In digital broadcasting, every broadcasting station has three channels, so that more channels are used in the digital broadcasting than in analog broadcasting. In addition, expansion of satellite digital broadcasting (such as BS digital and CS digital broadcasting) and IP broadcasting, and CATV broadcasting in foreign countries contribute to broadcasting of programs at a large number of channels.
Almost all televisions on the market today have a function to display an electronic program table these days. In view of the above circumstances, there have been increased the number of channels whose program information is displayed in an electronic program table and an amount of detailed information to be displayed in a selected program. This increases the number of cells and a display size of the electronic program table to be displayed on a screen.
For example, in a case of a television having a function of displaying an electronic program table, in order to search a program which is not displayed on the screen at that time by changing a date or a time so as to display a date or a time of the program, it is generally possible to adjust a range of the electronic program table to be displayed on the screen at a time by decreasing or increasing a size of the electronic program table. In particular, a large-screen television, which has been spread recently, can display most of a whole electronic screen table at a time by displaying a reduced image of the electronic program table.
However, in a case where the reduced image of the electronic program table is displayed in the large-screen television, a large number of program cells are displayed on the screen at a time. It is therefore difficult for a user to determine at a glance a program cell that the user selects. In a case where the program cell that the user selected is located around a center of a display screen, it is not easy to understand at a glance a correspondence between a broadcasting channel name of a program of the program cell and a time zone of the program.
An invention made in view of the circumstances is described in Patent Literature 1. Patent Literature 1 discloses a program table displaying device in which a program cell selected by a user is grayed out in an electronic program table. Specifically, in a case where the program table displaying device receives a predetermined operation instruction while a certain program cell is being selected, the program table displaying device grays out the program cell. Therefore, the program table displaying device allows a user to determine at a glance which program cell the user selects.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique for displaying a program cell selected by a predetermined criterion in a display state different from those of other program cells.
Patent Literature 3 discloses an electronic program table making device that generates a program table in which time zone information and channel information are displayed in a top end and a left end, respectively. The electronic program table making device changes vertical and horizontal widths of program cells located in a cross shape around a selected program cell in the program table so that the vertical and horizontal widths are twice as long as those of other program cells. Therefore, the electronic program table making device of Patent Literature 3 allows a user to easily grasp when and at which channel a program of the selected program cell is broadcasted.